Hmm. I don’t know this Nick Holmes, but he seems to have had a rather busy career. This, his debut solo album from 1973, gets its first official reissue (the artist was involved in the remastering and supplied bonus tracks). It’s bluesy soul music with a hint of jazz. Holmes’ voice falls somewhere between Cat Stevens and Shawn Phillips, quite enjoyable per se, and some of the songs are well written (“Oh Picasso,” “The Promise Suite”). But it’s not great. King Crimson-spotters will be interested to know that bassist Tony Levin is on here - this dates from the period where he did a lot of on-call studio gigs.

Ige*timer is a duo consisting of doublebassist Klaus Janek (also on laptop) and Simon Berz on home-made electronics and devices. An LP of noisy and crude free improvisation, long pieces whose detailes are buried inside the rough exterior of a digitally-trated bass. Not easy, not really engaging. I have heard better from Janek.

A Belgian duo, this is their debut album. Very good indie pop with a strong contribution from noisy textures and pretty experimental leanings. It makes me think of some of the acts signed on Tapete Records, especially Jack Beauregard (although noisier). Quiet voices, shady atmospheres, lots of electronica, though the music is well grounded.

Released last year, recorded live in the studio in May 2008, Henry: The Iron Man is Philippe Petit’s most solo “solo” album to date – the man usually surrounds himself with collaborators on record. For this one, there’s only Strings of Consciousness’ Perceval Bellone (sax) on two of the three tracks, and Chinese samples provided by FM3 on the other one. More ambient than SoC, the music unfolds slowly through several layers, loops and textures. Highly immersive and captivating in “Salaryman’s Dream”, but it looses some of its momentum and drags on in “Lady in the Radiator Meets the Fetishist.”[Below: An excerpt of “Salaryman’s Dream” found on BLRR’s website.]

Hailing from Bahrein, Osiris was one of the rare Arab prog rock bands. Written and presented on stage in 1985, Tales of the Divers was never recorded in the studio. And now, as a tribute to the band’s bassist, now deceased, here is a live recording of this concept “album”. Six musicians on stage plus a traditional rhythm band, in a work blending Arab music and Pink Floyd-type trippy progressive rock, around the theme of pearl divers. Not bad at all, despite the shaky sound of a salvaged 8-track tape.

In the Les Zutopistes collection, Gazul releases a compilation of songs by unclassifiable French artists mostly associated with Rock-in-Opposition and toy music. The tracklist includes a previously unreleased song by Albert Marcœur, a handful of unreleased vignettes by Joseph Racaille, and tracks culled from albums by Etron Fou Leloublan, Ferdinand Richard, Toupidek Limonade, Kliperei, David Fenech, and Frédéric Le Junter. Dada, walloping, and marvelously ridiculous!